When someone mentions mentoring, the general idea about the concept is that it involves two people with a senior-junior relationship within a certain field. Usually, the traditional mentoring also means that the senior is older and more experienced than the junior. However, this is just one form of mentoring. There’s also peer mentoring, where two people don’t need to have any age gap for one to be able to mentor another. There are also circle mentoring, which involves more mentees, as well as reverse mentoring where a younger person can keep an older colleague up-to-date with technological advancements, etc. Regardless of the type of mentoring you experience as a mentor, it can make a huge difference for you personally. Namely, mentoring can boost your career and your own perception of yourself.
This is how mentoring can boost your career:
1. Your self-awareness is improved
It may strike you as odd that improved self-awareness is something that’s important for your career, but if you think about it, being perfectly aware of your own character, emotions, motives and wishes is key for proper leadership and management. And, mentoring can help you boost this skill and self-reflection even more. Not only will this help you recognize your own strengths and weaknesses and use that knowledge to improve your own performance at work, but you’ll be able to do the same for other colleagues. This is an essential trait for every team leader to have.
2. There are more networking opportunities
Mentoring is not just about what you as a mentor can give to your mentee(s). It’s also about what you can learn and gain from the whole experience. One of the biggest benefits of mentoring is undoubtedly the great increase in networking opportunities. You get to meet people and brands that you may not have expected to know before. In that respect, you can build and utilize your connections for your career development as well. Together with the skills you get to improve, mentoring can boost your career by placing you in social situations necessary for something like that.
3. You stick to (achievable) goals
One of the great mentoring benefits is the fact that it helps you adopt a mindset you’re actually preaching to your mentees. In that respect, mentoring experience can effectively help you set realistic goals and successfully stick to them in order to accomplish them. Mentoring is all about the ability to recognize realistic goals, planning the path to their realization as well as finding the necessary motivation to keep going. Obviously, this factor makes mentoring an extremely valuable part of career boost and development, since better accountability is valued and appreciated considerably; especially when it comes to the professional part of your life.
4. A confidence boost is noticeable
Mentoring can boost your career effectively because it boosts your confidence first. Just like self-awareness, confidence is a must-have “skill” when work, leadership and/or management is concerned. The ability to mentor and lead someone can have a tremendously positive effect on your own self-esteem and raise the confidence bar high enough, so that you actually can act as a true role model and feel like one, too.
Obviously, career development depends on your knowledge, experience and skill set, and there’s no doubt about that. However, no one can deny that you also need connections as well as the right personality when it comes to a wide range of different professions. In that respect, your networking opportunities, self-awareness and self-esteem, confidence and accountability all make a huge part of who you are as an employee. Don’t shy away from mentoring possibility, since it can definitely boost your career as you get to help others at the same time.
Always be on the lookout for great job opportunities, because complete job satisfaction is something you deserve. Start your search at Systems Personnel and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions and queries. We’re here to help you excel at what you (want to) do.
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